Vancouver is the 8th largest city in Canada by population (630,000) and is the largest city of the Greater Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area in British Columbia (containing 2,460,000, the 3rd largest in Canada).

Downtown is located on a peninsula surrounded on three sides by Vancouver Harbour, English Bay, and False Creek. I will define Downtown as including the adjacent districts on the peninsula of Central, Coal Harbour, Davie Village, Gastown, West End, and Yaletown.

This thread will focus on the waterfront and adjacent buildings of the Coal Harbour area, starting with the Northwestern residential highrise area:

Beautiful. One of the things I remember most from my visit to Vancouver, which was quite a while ago in 2001, were the plethora of water fountains throughout the city. Your photos show many of them. I like the incorporation of water features.

Beautiful. One of the things I remember most from my visit to Vancouver, which was quite a while ago in 2001, were the plethora of water fountains throughout the city. Your photos show many of them. I like the incorporation of water features.

It's a very pleasant area, but I find that it lacks retail/restaurants/bars the way other areas such as Yaletown has. It feels a little dead, any reason why this is? Is it simply because it's so new?

A large amount of the buildings are used as a bank for foreign investors and are left empty. This is a problem across the entire city but is amplified in areas such as Coal Harbour where the prices are astronomically high for real estate.

For example the penthouse in the green building in this picture was listed for $59 million:

A large amount of the buildings are used as a bank for foreign investors and are left empty. This is a problem across the entire city but is amplified in areas such as Coal Harbour where the prices are astronomically high for real estate.

For example the penthouse in the green building in this picture was listed for $59 million:

I feel so bad for the native Canadians/Vancouverties. They need to make it more difficult for these crazy wealthy Chinese and foreigners to simply buy up housing stock and let them sit empty most of the year, especially when there's such a housing crisis.

Beautiful. One of the things I remember most from my visit to Vancouver, which was quite a while ago in 2001, were the plethora of water fountains throughout the city. Your photos show many of them. I like the incorporation of water features.

Ya the city pushes for water features as it helps neutralize the traffic noise. It's actually a pretty cool policy as it works pretty well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by destroycreate

It's a very pleasant area, but I find that it lacks retail/restaurants/bars the way other areas such as Yaletown has. It feels a little dead, any reason why this is? Is it simply because it's so new?

Ya a bit of what excel said plus it's intentionally zoned to be a quieter part of the city with much less retail and restaurants.

Quote:

Originally Posted by geomorph

Speaking of penthouses, this one looks especially luxurious, I wonder if it is all one unit on top?

Yup. Owned by the crown prince of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed something or other.

A cool $55 million several years ago, worth a lot more than that now.

The sub penthouse was listed earlier this year for a scant $38 million if anyone is looking to dip into the Vancouver market.